What We've Been Up to

I haven't written lately, but that doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything worth sharing. Here's a sample of what we've been doing:

• Our neighborhood had a yard sale... Reed and Miles had both chosen some toys to sell, so they both made a little money. Since it was immediately burning a hole in their pockets (they don't get that from me!), they walked down the street to check out some other yard sales. Miles bought a super cool metal detector! He has had lots of fun with this... and is looking forward to taking it to the beach!
  

• Had lunch with my friend Corliss and her daughter Codi, and my mom. I had mentioned to Corliss recently that I wanted an old school desk for my front porch. She loves yard sales & antique stores, and I knew if I mentioned it, she'd deliver. Her neighbor just happened to call and ask if she needed an old school desk that was just taking up space at her house! Corliss snatched that thing up and brought it to me - all the way from the rivah - so she literally did deliver! Miles thought it was so cool, and just had to "do school" in it the first day. Then I made it into what I had in mind all along. What do you think? I happen to love it! (so don't answer that if you think it's tacky!)
  

• Made this yummy lunch! Yes, taking a picture of my lunch is weird - but I couldn't resist. It was so pretty! Spinach, strawberries, chicken, and poppy seed dressing, wrapped up in a whole wheat tortilla... yummy almost-summer lunch! It's so good, I make it almost every day now!

• Went on a field trip with some fellow homeschool friends to the river walk canal in Richmond. Learned lots of interesting Richond history, and enjoyed the company. Look at all of those kids! And there are the moms... I don't think we look like homeschool moms, do you? You won't find any ankle- length denim skirts in this group :)

And now we're almost done with school... planning on doing our end of the year testing tomorrow and then we're all finished! Woohoo! Look for pictures to come celebrating that summer is here!

Best.Game.Ever

My family loves to play games together. When my Mema and Aunt Laura come up to visit, or when we head down to Kinston, one of our very favorite things to do is sit down for a good game of cards or a fun new board game. I read about this new game recently on Heth's blog and knew we had to try it. I won't even attempt to explain it... Heth does a good job explaining it on her original post. Basically, it's like a game of "telephone" (you know, everyone sits in a circle and passes a secret to the next person until it reaches the original person and it ends up nothing like it started as) but with sentences and drawing. We played it this weekend when Mema, Papa, and Aunt Laura came up to visit. So much fun! And just like Heth, I am showing you a couple of examples that had us either laughing 'til we cried or on the verge of wetting our pants. These are from the Friday night games. Enjoy...

This was my original sentence. I passed it to the left to Reed and this is what he drew:

Reed then passed it left to my mom, who wrote this sentence.

"The eighth boy put something in the mailbox." Alrighty then. So, she passed it to Mema who drew this. Brace yourself.

Ok, so we aren't a family of artists. Mema passed it to Aunt Laura who wrote this sentence:

And that was the end of that round. Funny, huh? Check this one out...

Original sentence, written by me and passed to Reed on my left, who drew this:

Who then passed it to my mom, and - again, brace yourself, people - she wrote this:

Who then passed it to Mema and, let me just say right here... everyone should play with my Mema at least once in their lifetime. Here is her interpretation of above sentence:

And of course, Aunt Laura wrote this:

Well, of course it was. Makes perfect sense.

Did I say already how much I love this game? Round up some of your favorite people and play it today! And if you do, let me know how fun your game was!